Archive for June, 2008

Columbus Junction and Columbus City must boil their water. Bottled water is available at Columbus School from 3 to 5 p.m. today (Wednesday). Those with larger water containers can have those filled also.

The Skunk River in Brighton reportedly reached levels higher than in 1993. Here are some photos Andrew Schneider took late last week.

Do you have photos of flooding (especially in Washington, Keokuk, or Louisa County?) Send them to: news@kciiradio.comInclude the photographers name,when it was taken and what exactly it is a picture of.

The United Methodist Church in Washington is putting together “flood buckets” with cleaning supplies to give to those affected; it’s $45 per bucket. Financial donations to purchase them or items to put in them are accepted.

An earlier post indicated the Louisa County Sheriff’s office found the body of 35 year old Scott McCulley of Grandview after he had been reported missing; he was found Sunday afternoon on a search using boats. Autopsy results are still pending, but Sergeant Josh Helscher believes the cause of death is drowning.

Or you can drop them off to Nitza at the Community Development Center office in the New Civic Center across from City Hall or you can drop your check off at any of the two banks downtown Columbus Junction. Please mark your checks Flood Relief 2008.

A day of sunshine after the darkness of record floods. Iowa National Guard Specialist E-4 Curtis Lloyd Wright, 3655 CRC, 1st Detachment and Danielle Ritter will be getting married early Thursday afternoon (Exact time yet to be determined) on the Highway 92 viaduct in Columbus Junction, Iowa overlooking the scenic flood waters of the Iowa River. Both the Bride and Groom are from Macksburg, Iowa. The Groom is currently on deployment in Columbus Junction for Flood duty. The National Guard Chaplin will be performing the ceremony.

The Red Cross Shelter set up in the Wapello Baptist Church –Solid Rock, 14014 Locust Street needs volunteers to assist people with registering for FEMA online or by telephone. 11:30 to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m….Also people are needed to help serve meals and clean up….Other people are needed at Solid Rock at the information desk or to help organize and stock supply rooms, register new shelter residents. Just answer general questions people might have.

If donations of food and other supplies made to the National Guard unit stationed at the Washington Armory remain after they finish their duties, it will be given to flood victims . Ann Moore from the 134th family readiness group says that they don’t know when that will be, but eventually if there are things left over, they will in turn make that donation to local people affected.

Columbus Junction City Clerk Julie Heindel says that drinking water will be passed out again to residents today from 3 to 5 p.m. at Columbus School; they may be on the other side of the school today. Heindel says that residents are also able to bring in their own large containers to be filled.

If the flooding is from primarily pooled rainwater they should be alright following previously sent precautions. However if it is from river, creek, or other source that may be contain raw sewage such as untreated release from city wastewater plants, septic systems, or livestock facilities, the general recommendation is to avoid using those garden areas for 90 days.

Columbus Junction is scheduled to host a drive from 1:30 – 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (June 18th) at the Legion Hall. However, the flooding has caused the Legion to be utilized as a sandbagging station and we were left to find an alternate location. The Columbus City Masonic Lodge has graciously allowed MVRBC to use the building in order to continue blood collections.

KCII would like to see your photos from local flooding, especially Louisa, Keokuk, and Washington Counties. E-mail them to news@kciiradio.com; please include the photographer’s name, the location, and the date it was taken.